


Offspring

by FiveStillAlive



Series: Trickster [10]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Begging, Fenrir - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 13:50:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13952934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiveStillAlive/pseuds/FiveStillAlive
Summary: Odin stopped Loki from creating more things like Sleipnir.But Odin's gone now.(This 100% works as a stand alone, but if you're reading the series this is an important one.)





	Offspring

Thor should have seen it coming.

Loki had disappeared for a few days. Thor knew he had to be on world, as his ship was still in the dock, but beyond that he could be anywhere.

Thor wasn't too worried. They'd settled into a pleasant unspoken truce. Loki made trouble all the time, and Thor stopped him making trouble all the time. But Loki never made too much trouble, and Thor never did too good a job of stopping him. They always ended up happily in bed together.

They were what each other had, before all else. It kept them from fighting too badly, when keeping each other was their top priority.

So Loki was probably causing mischief, and Thor would have to deal with that when the time came, but that kept life interesting.

Thor trained with his warriors almost every day. It wasn't much of a challenge for any of them, but it kept them in form between real fights, and it kept their bonds strong. The warriors trained together, then washed together, and gossiped shamelessly. It was a happy, social time, as they all talked and helped each other redress, and fixed each other's hair.

Thor was talking to Sif about the sword she'd brought back from Vanir, when it happened.

All the warriors went quiet, heads lifted. Many turned to look out over the balcony, as if they'd heard something. Thor did too, heart racing before he could figure out why.

Most Asgardians did not master their magic to much great skill, but all had some contact with it, inside. It was hardly noticeable. But if there was a big enough burst of power, they could feel it.

"Loki." Thor murmured. He only realized he'd spoken when other's reacted, cursing and exclaiming over what trouble he could have caused now.

The warriors accepted Loki as one of them, mostly. A strange one, to be blamed for every misfortune, but cheerfully invited to every table. But they were all ready for the day when Loki turned against them.

Thor didn't bother telling them what to do. Telling them to follow would be unnecessary, telling them to stay would be ignored. He ran out onto the balcony, and thunder cracked, and then he was in the air, being carried with his lightning.

He followed the sense of power, now fading, to the woods. Loki was running, fully sprinting, away from the direction of the city. One arm was tucked against his chest, either injured or carrying something. He looked up, saw Thor descending upon him, and split into a dozen Loki's, all fleeing different directions.

Fuck.

Thor took a guess and hit down in front of one of the Lokis. "Loki, stop!" His hands went straight through him. He spun, and raised his arm to defend against a blow that also went through him.

The Lokis were all closing in, surrounding him. No way to tell which was real.

Until he spotted one disappearing around a ridge. He ignored the others, and gave chase.

A knife flashed out at him. He blocked it, but the second partially hit, piercing his armor and gouging his ribs. He lashed out with lightning, and Loki cried out and curled to protect whatever he was carrying, bundled inside his coat.

Ah.

Not so many years ago, Thor would have taken advantage of that, and struck for what Loki was trying to protect. Now he knew his brother better. Whatever Loki was doing, it wasn't out of malice. If he was taking lightning to protect something, he had cause.

Thor feinted a strike toward it, forcing Loki to move to block, then grabbed his brother by the throat and shoved him hard against a tree. He grabbed Loki's coat and tore it open, intending to see what all this was about.

"No!"

Thor had a moment to stare blankly at the dark bundle of squirming fur, then a memory of a particularly unpleasant giant hit him hard in the face, and made him stumble back.

Loki darted off in six directions. But Thor was pissed enough now to shed the illusions. With a growl, he lunged after Loki, and shoved him into the rocky ridge.

Loki cried out in panic, and let his face hit the rocks, using both arms to protect what he carried. Thor spun him and pinned him firmly with an arm across his shoulders.

"No!" Loki fought his hold as if panicked. Thor pried his arm away from its protective curl, to get a better look at the creature he carried.

It was... a little wolf pup.

Or, no, it was a newborn wolf pup, ears folded, eyes closed, fur damp, but it was large, curled over half of Loki's chest.

Loki was frantic. "Don't hurt him! Please, Thor, brother, please! Do not hurt him! Please, you can't, you can't! He's my blood, you said we were brothers, you said I was family, he's mine, please! Please don't hurt him, please, Thor, I'll do anything, you can't!"

What?

Thor looked from his brother to the little creature. It was sniffing vaguely, nuzzling weakly against Loki's chest. As if looking for a teat.

In shock, Thor pulled the squirming thing free of Loki's coat. Loki had.... This was his?

Loki screamed when Thor pulled the pup away, and collapsed to his knees. He clung to Thor's legs, sobbing. "Please! Brother, please! My king! Please don't! Please, please! Punish me, don't hurt him! I'll take him away, I'll put him with the Grandmaster, you'll never see him again, I swear it! Please, please!" He was staring up at where Thor held the pup, terror naked on his face, unable to look away. "Thor, please! Don't hurt him, please!"

"Loki...." His throat was dry. The word came out rough.

He'd never seen his brother so frightened. Loki looked as if he couldn't breath. He groped for the hem of Thor's cape, and kissed it. "Please!" A broken whisper. "Please! Do not hurt him!"

Thor finally came out of his shock, understanding at last that his brother was terrified beyond reason... of him.

His mind began to catch up. Loki had gone into one of his madnesses. What Father had so often stopped, Thor had now failed to contain. Loki had been out here for days, half-mad, doing magics Thor could barely imagine, and had created this wolfish offspring, of his own blood and power.

The last time he had done this had been the first time he tried. Father had taken Sleipnir from him. Then Father... and Thor... had spent the next thousand years stopping Loki from doing it again.

Because it was unnatural. Loki wanted to breed powerful monsters, of godly blood. And now he had, again.

Loki was its... mother.

And Thor had taken it from his arms.

He looked down, in sudden horrified comprehension of Loki's terror. He went quickly to his knees with Loki, and pressed the creature back into his arms. "Oh. No, brother, I won't hurt it!"

Loki collapsed around it in a protective curl, and sobbed relief.

Thor hesitantly stroked his hair. "It's okay. No one will hurt him. No one will take him from you." Loki's sobs began to calm, and he gasped for breath. Thor tried to sooth him. He'd been out here for days in his madness. Draining his very life and power to make this fever dream. Then the moment he was finished, with the pup's fur still damp from birth, he was forced into a panicked flee from his own brother.

Thor felt sick. "Oh, Loki, I never...." What?

He had set himself against Loki doing this. He'd taken Father's side in stopping him, countless times. If he'd known what Loki was doing, he would have stopped him, even though it would certainly have come to a fight. If needed, he would have collared Loki to bind his magic, and imprisoned him until this madness passed. He had before. It never lasted long.

He would have done that to Loki... without questioning why. Simply because Father had commanded it.

The thought of Loki making these creatures made something in him cringe. It was unnatural. And Loki was mad when he wanted to, barely himself. But cringing over something was not reason to go to such lengths to prevent it.

He had never bothered to think about this. He'd had to have a helpless pup in his arms, and his brother screaming in terror at his feet, before he'd bothered to question it.

But now it seemed absurd that he would stop this. Loki was babbling relief, kissing the little thing, cradling it, as helplessly in love as he'd been in terror moments before. How could he ever have wanted to keep this from him?

Thor leaned forward, and kissed Loki's hair. "Oh brother, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I tried to stop you. You don't need to be afraid again. I promise."

\-----------

Loki calmed down, and by the hints of sharp ice in his eyes, he was coming out of his madness. He was sitting back against a tree, eyeing Thor warily.

He'd conjured a cloak, and draped it around his shoulder and chest, and it had taken Thor a moment to realize that Loki was nursing the thing. Thor had blushed, and squirmed uncomfortably, which had seemed to do more to calm Loki than all his reassurances, if the smirk was anything to judge by.

Thor settled. Loki looked exhausted by whatever he'd been doing out here to create that thing, and needed rest before they began the trek back. Thor didn't like the idea of carrying a newborn by lightning, so they'd return the slow way. He kept an eye out for the warriors catching up with them. That would be... loud.

"What is its name?"

"His name," Loki lightly emphasized the pronoun, "is Fenrir."

Thor frowned. "Like Hela's?"

Loki narrowed his eyes, and tensed defensively around the pup. Thor made a gesture of surrender. He obviously wouldn't be getting answers on that soon.

"And it's... your blood. Your..."

"Offspring." Loki supplied.

"Right. Offspring. Well, good. Excellent. That's... good."

Loki eyed him suspiciously.

"It's a wolf, Loki! You had a puppy!" he burst out. Were they just not going to mention that?

"Yes."

Thor got up to pace. "Well?"

"Well what? I'm a shapeshifter, Thor. This isn't my proper form either."

"It's the same general shape, at least!"

Loki shrugged. "My Asgardian form is more convincingly Asgardian than my frost giant form. Maybe I was left in that temple because I was a weird shapeshifting thing they'd found."

Thor stared at him, completely derailed by this.

"They aren't shapeshifters either, brother." He looked adoringly down his chest, and delicately stroked the pup under his cloak. He made soft, nonsense noises at it. Apparently it was full, as he readjusted his clothes and let the little thing curl on his lap.

Thor came over, and knelt cautiously near his brother. "May I... see?"

Loki gestured permission.

Thor leaned in close, almost putting his head in Loki's lap. He moved a hand slowly in, and gently pet the little creature. "He's very cute."

Loki grinned. "You think? He's still so young."

"He will grow big and strong, I'm sure." Thor sat up, and kissed Loki, who kissed back happily. He pressed close to his brother. "I'm sorry. I should never have stopped you from doing this. What you've done is wonderful."

Loki looked utterly radiant with pleasure at that. Thor grinned, and kissed him again. Hmm, if this madness came with such giddy emotional openness, he hoped Loki did it more often!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr: <https://www.tumblr.com/blog/runnerfivestillalive>


End file.
